Middle East - AP
Palestinians Fire Monetary Authority Head
Date: Wed, May 05, 2004
RAMALLAH, West Bank - The Palestinian parliament fired the head of the Palestinian Monetary Authority on Wednesday after an investigation showed he allegedly was involved in corruption and mismanagement.
Amin Haddad was the first high-ranking Palestinian official fired by the parliament for corruption.
The monetary authority monitors the flow of money in the Bank of Palestine, and a parliament investigation said the bank's losses increased from $11 million to $34 million in three years.
The Palestinian Authority (news - web sites) assumed control over the private bank after the initial $11 million loss.
"This is part of the parliament's war against corruption in the Palestinian Authority," said deputy parliament speaker Hassan Khreishe.
Members of parliament asked Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat (news - web sites) to appoint a replacement for Haddad within two weeks. Haddad could not immediately be reached for comment.
Khreishe said Haddad was pocketing unauthorized bonuses and abusing his position for his own interests. He declined to say how much money Haddad had taken.
The Palestinian Authority has implemented a series of financial reforms over the past two years. A recent World Bank (news - web sites) assessment of Palestinian finances was "very positive," the bank's local director, Nigel Roberts, said recently.
SOURCE
FAIR USE NOTICE
This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.